The second candle: Peace For the second candle in Advent, we focus on peace. [Jesus said] “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14:27 Do not …
Preparation: The hope of the Patriarchs
The first Candle: Hope. The first candle of Advent is all about hope. Think about hope as you hear Lamentations 3: 21-24: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is …
Preparation: Four candles
Fork 'andles? No not the old Two Ronnies sketch. I was planning on making the next four blogs on each of the four candles of the Advent crown. Then I came upon a snag.there is misunderstanding. Are there just four candles in a circle, or are there five? Is the fifth candle, if there is …
Preparation: You can go your own way
All fall down No, this is not a blog about the Fleetwood Mac song about a relationship breakup, nor is it about the Lindisfarne song, about the way Newcastle City Centre was ruined by building a motorway through it, though I have a connection to that one. In 1972 I was one of a number …
Preparation: Creation
Creation In the last blog I said that God does nothing without preparing tings first. The creation story shows this if we split the account of 6 days into two sets of 3: The 6 days of creation Preparation Population Day 1 Day 4 And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. …
Preparation: Welcome to Advent
Welcome to Advent Advent started not as the Advent Calendars would have you think on 1st December not on the 4th Sunday before Christmas. At least this year that means two days extra chocolate (or whatever your calendar contains). Advent is a season of preparation. God does nothing without preparation, as the next few blogs …
I don’t want your freedom
God the Son: The Cross and Death Ever heard one of those sermons that gets you thinking, and after weeks you are still thinking bout it, but it is weeks before the penny drops? No? Just me then. You see over at Holy Trinity Huddersfield we have been having a sermon series, we have plenty …
Search me
Who am I There are times when all the world's asleep The questions run too deep For such a simple man Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned I know it sounds absurd Please tell me who I am The Logical Song by Richard Davies and Roger Hodgson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQfjIw3mivc "Please tell me who …
Broken
Letters from broken men. "Break me Lord." Not a comfortable or easy prayer to say, who wants to be broken? We admire strong people, not broken people, our culture, in film, in business, in politics, is based on people being strong. It goes against society to be weak, to be broken. But Jesus, God in …
Yorkshire is like heaven
Yorkshire is like heaven Did you spot the mistake in the title? There are two Yorkshires. Two very different Yorkshires. First there's rural Yorkshire, much of it hilly. There's the Yorkshire Dales, The Northern part of the Peak District and the Pennine hills connecting the two. There are also the North York Moors, the Howardian …
Making an ass of myself 